Cover art by Jim Starlin.
Cover art by Ron Wilson and Frank Giacoia.
Back in June, we took a look at Captain Marvel #34 — the last issue produced by auteur Jim Starlin, who would soon be moving on to “Warlock” in Strange Tales. As you may recall, Starlin’s swan song ended on a cliffhanger, with Mar-Vell lying unconscious after having been exposed to a deadly nerve toxin.
On one level, this cliffhanger wouldn’t be fully resolved until 1982, when Starlin’s graphic novel, The Death of Captain Marvel, revealed that the hero had contracted cancer as a result of the nerve gas — a cancer which did indeed ultimately prove fatal. But in 1974, Mar-Vell wasn’t going anywhere, and so it would be up to the creators who picked up the ongoing storyline in Captain Marvel #35 to get him out of the fix Starlin had left him in — even if it ultimately turned out to be only a temporary reprieve, seen in retrospect.
Along with dealing with the immediate consequences of Mar-Vell’s current predicament, the creative team for issue #35 — which, for the record, consisted of plotter Steve Englehart (who had scripted the last couple of issues over Starlin’s plots), scripter Mike Friedrich (who’d performed the same job on several earlier issues) and artist Alfredo Alcala (making a rare foray into the superhero genre) — couldn’t forget about the hero’s quasi-alter-ego: Rick Jones, who had to hang out in the Negative Zone whenever Captain Marvel himself wasn’t stuck there… a status quo that had been in place (with occasional interruptions) ever since CM #17, published back in 1969. Generally speaking, all Rick usually had to worry about during these sojourns was boredom — well, that, and fear that Mar-Vell would die facing one of the perils that superhero-types encounter on the regular, leaving Rick stranded forever (which, of course, pretty well describes the situation he’s in at the beginning of CM #35). On one previous occasion, however, Rick had run into the biggest, baddest supervillain native to the Neg Zone — no, not Blastaar — and that encounter receives an unwelcome reprise, here:
Luckily for Rick — at least in the short term — the three-hour limit governing Mar-Vell’s ability to swap places with Rick kicks in right about now, sending Rick back to Earth, and leaving an unconscious Marv in his place. Of course, Rick’s not alone for long…
Since Captain Marvel was able to seal the nerve gas canister before he passed out, the crisis is over; nevertheless, Rick is prevailed upon to travel to the Air Force base where Carol works to make an official statement. Meanwhile, back in the Negative Zone…
On further reflection, Annihilus decides that, rather than off Mar-Vell right here and now, he should haul him back to his home base, to see if he can figure out how the hero’s dimensional transfer works — information that he can then employ in the interest of conquering our entire cosmos. Meantime, on Earth…
Rick is stunned to discover that not only can he “see” Mar-Vell in the Neg Zone — he can also enter and animate Marv’s inert body. Nothing like this has ever happened before, so why is it happening now? Almost as soon as the question arises in Rick’s mind, he “hears” a familiar voice respond: “Heed me, Rick Jones — I am the reason –”
Back on Earth, Rick’s mental journey to the Neg Zone has left his body comatose. Fearing that he’s had a delayed reaction to the nerve toxin, his companions rush him to a hospital, and soon thereafter…
Yep, it’s Hank and Janet van Dyne Pym — or, if you prefer, Ant-Man and the Wasp. Their appearance mid-story comes as a complete surprise, given that they weren’t pictured, or even blurbed, on the issue’s cover — but, what the hey. They’re here now, and ready to help out — although according to Carol Danvers, who shows up on the next page, there’s really no need, since it’s now been confirmed that Rick wasn’t exposed to the nerve gas after all: “The docs can’t explain his coma yet, but the danger is passed.”
The Lunatic Legion had of course been introduced in CM #34, where they employed the supervillain Nitro to steal the very nerve gas that’s since gotten Mar-Vell and Rick into their present jam — though they themselves remained unseen, as they also do here. Anyway, it looks like Ant-Man and the Wasp will be needed after all, as the Living Laser is standing in front of Rick;s hospital bed, ready to zap him, when he feels something sting his neck — and turns to find himself unexpectedly dealing with a couple of his old Avenging adversaries…
Overcome by the swarming ants, the Living Laser runs out of the room. Meanwhile, in the Negative Zone, Rick — in Captain Marvel’s body — manages to paste Annihilus a good one, right in his ugly green kisser…
Back in Chicago, Carol Danvers is discussing the latest turn of events with Ant-Man and the Wasp when the Living Laser suddenly reappears, having evidently rid himself of his infestation, and prepares to pick up where he left off… though he fails to notice that one Avenger is missing, the Wasp having shrunk out of sight the moment he showed up…
And so, the Living Laser, a villain who’s been knocking around the Marvel Universe since Avengers #34 (Nov., 1966) meets his final, fatal end. Well, not really. About a year and a half after this, writer Gerry Conway would want to bring LL back, and so it would be declared (in Avengers #153) that the version who bought the farm in the scene above was an android duplicate of the real deal. (Though if Conway or anyone else ever explained why anyone would want to go to all the trouble and expense of duplicating a “C”-lister like the Laser in the first place, I must have missed it.)
Meanwhile, in the Neg Zone, Mar-Vell’s body is taking such a pounding from Annihilus that Rick decides their only hope is to fly away — and so, after a wobbly liftoff…
The letters page of Captain Marvel #35 included an editorial note that, after confirming the departure of Jim Starlin from the title, went on to announce that the new regular creative team on the book would be Steve Englehart and Al Milgrom; Mike Friedrich and Alfredo Alcala were then both duly thanked for having “stepped in to put this transition issue across under a monstrous Deadline Doom.” That statement seems to indicate that Alcala was never a serious contender for taking over the art on Captain Marvel on an ongoing basis; which, as much as I generally admire the artist’s work, may have been for the best. Simply on the basis of this one outing, Alcala seems to have found the over-the-top, larger-than-life aesthetic of superhero comics (and especially Marvel superhero comics) difficult to adjust to; as evidence, I’d point to most of the illustrations of the Living Laser I’ve shared here, where the villain comes off looking weird at best, and comical at worst. Sure, he’s a “C”-lister, but that doesn’t mean he should seem completely ridiculous. All that said, it’s quite possible that with more experience, Alcala could have gotten the hang of the tights ‘n’ fights thing; but he never really got the chance, at least not as a penciller. (Marvel would eventually employ him as an inker on multiple Hulk stories, and he’d have a long stint in the ’80s inking Batman as well as other superhero features for DC Comics.)
In any event, when Captain Marvel #36 showed up in spinner racks two months later, everything appeared to be on track… or so at least you’d assume from the cover, which was a swell piece inked as well as pencilled by Al Milgrom, featuring our hero getting a hotfoot from… the Watcher? Gasp! Could Marvel’s ever-benign, cosmically-powerful, “non-interventionist” (nudge nudge, wink wink) professional spectator actually have gone bad? Take my twenty-five cents, please, so I can take this baby home and find out just what’s going on here!
Of course, it didn’t take me — or any other reader of October, 1974 — very long to figure out that what was contained within CM #36’s pages was only tangentially related to the scene depicted on its cover. Take a look at the opening splash page, and be sure to pay extra close attention to that third caption box — the one that’s clearly lettered in a different style than what been employed elsewhere on the page, suggesting it’s been tossed in late in the production process…
Of course, when we readers turned to the next page, we found ourselves greeted by the splash page of the actual story presented in this issue… a reprinting of our hero’s 15-page debut/origin story, “The Coming of Captain Marvel!”, as originally chronicled by Stan Lee, Gene Colan, and Frank Giacoia back in Marvel Super-Heroes #12 (Dec., 1967). Only after that tale’s conclusion did we return to the framing sequence crafted by “S. Englehart, Starlin & co.,” et al:
So what the heck had happened here? As a note on this issue’s letters page explained…
…in one of those foolish foul-ups Merry Marvel is famous for, the artwork for said story was sent to the wrong party (a totally nonplussed Don Perlin) and by the time a mailbox-watching Steve Englehart rang an alarm, it was too late to write and ink and color and edit and engrave and ship and… well, you get the idea.
Um, I guess so… although that explanation for the reprint sits a little oddly with the last-minute splash-page “caption laying it on the new artist” (as Steve Englehart put it in his 2011 introduction to Marvel Masterworks — Captain Marvel, Vol. 4, in a context indicating that, unlike the rest of the captions in the framing sequence, he didn’t write that one). But, whatever. My younger self didn’t kick too hard over this unfortunate (if perhaps unavoidable) instance of bait-and-switch, as I’d never read Mar-Vell’s origin before this… and that new framing artwork by “Starlin & co.” really was quite nice-looking. (For the record, “& co.” seems more or less to have been one person — namely, Englehart and Starlin’s pal Alan Weiss. If I’m any judge of such matters, Starlin appears to have done no more than rough layouts, as the finished product has a whole lot of Weiss’s style in it [especially when compared to his more restrained finishes over one of Starlin’s “Warlock” stories in Strange Tales, released some six months after this].* And speaking of “Warlock”, one has to appreciate the irony of Jim Starlin “returning” to Captain Marvel before his next project had even had its first issue come out.)
If nothing else, the framing sequence certainly whetted one’s appetite for the story that we were supposed to have gotten in October, 1974 when it finally showed up in December’s Captain Marvel #37, behind another very nice (if slightly more generic) cover, this one by the team of Gil Kane and Klaus Janson (feel free to scroll back up to take another look, if you like)…
Al Milgrom was a very logical choice to follow Jim Starlin as Captain Marvel‘s artist for a number of reasons. The two men had been friends since their youthful days growing up in Detroit, and Milgrom had in fact broken into the artistic side of the business as Starlin’s inker (after first writing a few short stories for Warren Publishing’s black-and-white horror comics). Their relationship was such that Milgrom signed the covers they collaborated on as “Gemini” (“Jim and I”); and, as will be obvious as we look through his first CM pencilling job, the way Milgrom approached page design as well as storytelling was very similar to his friend and predecessor’s, whether naturally or by conscious design.
In addition to drawing Captain Marvel, Milgrom would be co-plotting it with Englehart, as well; this, too, must have seemed logical to those involved, since, as already noted, Milgrom already had a number of scripting credits to his name, while Englehart had recently concluded a similar creative partnership with Frank Brunner on Doctor Strange that had been well-received by fans.
Also joining the creative team, at least for this storyline, was another talent who, like Englehart and Milgrom, wasn’t exactly new to Captain Marvel: inker Klaus Janson. Janson had previously handled the finishes on Captain Marvel #33, the concluding chapter of Starlin’s “Thanos War” epic; his rich, illustrative textures had added a lot to the impact of that issue, and his presence here provided some additional visual continuity for the series. (Ironically, per Jim Starlin it had been Janson’s unavailability to ink CM #34, after Marvel had promised Starlin he’d be the new regular inker on the title, that had prompted the latter creator to leave the book with that issue.)
What about that fourth panel, huh? It doesn’t entirely work for me… mostly, I think, because of the decision to print the word balloons sideways, rather than just let the weird camera angle speak for itself. But I give Milgrom points for attempting something different (and for what it’s worth, it’s easy to imagine Starlin doing the same thing).
And that’s the last we’ll see of Ant-Man and the Wasp in this storyline. To be honest, I’m not sure what prompted their inclusion in the first place — though I’m inclined to think Mike Friedrich might have been behind it (he had written the majority of the installments of the short-lived “Ant-Man” strip in Marvel Feature, after all, and may have still felt invested in the Pyms to one degree or another) — especially since they make their exit from the book right after he’s made his. (UPDATE, 12/21/24, 1:00 pm: Over at the Marvel Masterworks Marathon forum, Blake Stone has reminded me that Ant-Man and the Wasp’s guest-shot had been promoted in the “Next Issue” blurb at the end of CM #34, so it may well have been Jim Starlin’s idea all along.)
Captain Marvel is keen to fly straight to the Moon right away to check out the new lead he’s just been handed, but a voice in his head — i.e., Rick Jones — reminds him that he, Rick, has got other stuff going on… namely, the concert gig in Denver that he was driving to with Mordecai Boggs and Rachel “Dandy” Dandridge when they all ran afoul of the Lunatic Legion’s first agent, Nitro, in CM #34. Mar-Vell understands Rick’s concerns and is sympathetic, but then goes on to note that said gig isn’t for five days — “leaving us plenty of time to decide which is more important — your career — or our lives!” Having made his point, Marv proceeds to swap places with Rick once more… and after some further reflection, Rick goes to tell Mordecai and Dandy what he’s decided he must do…
As before, Rick ultimately, if reluctantly, takes Marv-Ell’s point. The two again switch places, so that Marv can fly to New York to facilitate Rick’s borrowing a spacesuit from the Avengers (courtesy of the team’s butler, Jarvis). Once Rick is properly suited up, it’s off to the Moon at last…
Annihilus again? This could actually start getting old… although Englehart and Milgrom manage to delay that outcome for at least a while (for me, anyway) with the unexpected event that occurs on the very next page…
Whoa, Annihilus is actually “some sorta collective intelligence“?! That kind of seems like the sort of thing that should have come up in one or more of his previous appearances — if nowhere else, then in the origin story that writer Gerry Conway had provided for the character in Fantastic Four #140, a little more than a year before this comic came out (not that that particular story was any great shakes, mind you). But, whatever… I’m sure that this starling change in the status quo of “Anni Greensprings” will be addressed in a near future issue. Right?
Moving on, we find that with the menace of Annihilus neutralized for the nonce, Rick quickly finds himself once more growing restless in his solitude…
Yeah, right. Given that Rick’s stated wish is to “while away the time”, and the act of swallowing a vitamin capsule takes maybe two seconds, I’m pretty sure he knows that whatever Dandy’s passed him, it ain’t no Vitamin C. Which means he’s opted to consume an unknown substance given him by a woman he’s known for a couple of days, tops, while stranded in the Negative Zone. Hey, what could go wrong?
(If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you might be wondering now if you’ve somehow missed a post, since you haven’t read anything in this space about a recent issue of Avengers that discusses the Kree origins of the Blue City on the Moon. Rest assured, however, that though we didn’t manage to squeeze in a post devoted wholly to Avengers #133 this month, its revelations will get their full due when we cover Avengers #134 next month. All good?)
Writing about this issue in his excellent book-length study, Marvel Comics in the 1970’s: The World Inside Your Head (Cornell University Press, 2023), critic Eliot Borenstein wryly noted: “Reading this story as a child, I assumed that the Negative Zone had unanticipated effects on the metabolization of vitamin C.” More recently, my friend and fellow blogger Ben Herman cited similar confusion in his own fine post on Captain Marvel #37-39, explaining how he first acquired CM #37 as a back issue circa 1985, when he was nine years old, and was “seriously unsettled” by it. It wasn’t until re-reading the story a decade later that the truth dawned on him: “…the “Vitamin C” that Rick Jones took was actually LSD! Pretty sneaky work by Englehart & Milgrom.”
Yeah, it was sneaky, not to mention oblique — though it’s doubtful that the creators could have gotten this sequence through the Comics Code Authority, had they been even slightly more direct and above-board about Rick’s ingestion of an illegal drug for recreational purposes. Which is the best excuse I can offer for my own younger self — seventeen years of age when I first read this story — being as confused by its events as were Messrs. Borenstein and Herman on their initial encounters with it. As best as I can remember, I was pretty sure that, no, Dandy hadn’t given Rick a bona fide vitamin capsule… but it wasn’t at all clear to me what the capsule actually contained, or that Dandy had known precisely what she was doing when she slipped it to our puzzled would-be rock star. Of course, it’s entirely possible that even if Englehart and Milgrom had been more overt, I still wouldn’t have gotten it; as I’ve mentioned in several previous posts, your humble blogger grew up an upright, sincere, and naive Southern Baptist; what I knew about drugs was pretty much limited to what I saw on TV (and read about in comic books).
Mar-Vell goes zooming off, although since he can’t trust his sensory perceptions, he’s more or less flying blind. When he can no longer hear the sounds of the Watcher’s pursuit, he stops to rest…
Those Lunatic Legion guys look pretty well, loony, don’t they? Although it would probably be prudent to assume that the visual we’re getting in that final panel is being shown us from Captain Marvel’s drug-influenced perspective — and thus, perhaps less than 100% trustworthy. Whatever the truth of the matter, however, the answer will have to wait for our next Captain Marvel post.
Before we close, however, we’d like to note that one thing you won’t be reading about in that post — in spite of the final caption’s promise that it would be addressed in the next issue — is “the meaning of a million tiny Annihiluses“. That’s because whatever Steve Englehart and/or Al Milgrom might have had in mind in regards to ol’ Mean ‘n’ Green, it was never to be addressed by them — either in Captain Marvel #38, or anywhere else. According to the Marvel Database Project’s page for this issue, “The reveal of Annihilus as a colony of smaller Annihilus-like bugs is later revealed to be a ruse by the real Annihilus, who is depicted as a whole individual in all other appearances.”** Where and when did this “ruse” retcon take place? Beats me; Annihilus wouldn’t make another appearance in a Marvel comic until Fantastic Four #179 (Feb., 1977), and if the matter came up in that issue, or in subsequent chapters of the same storyline, I missed it. Anyway, if somebody out there has more complete information regarding this mystery, please feel free to share in the comments section.
But, hey, it’s really no big deal… believe me, there’ll be plenty of other stuff to trip out over (if you’ll pardon the expression) in the upcoming issues of Captain Marvel; I hope you’ll join me for that discussion, a few months from now.
*Per Englehart’s Masterworks intro, the two panels of the Watcher on the final page were actually drawn in reverse order; the writer had them “switched for script purposes”, similar to what he had done with some of Dave Cockrum’s panels for Giant-Size Avengers #2; hopefully, this change was received better by Starlin and Weiss than the earlier alterations reportedly were by Cockrum.
**The wiki entry’s anonymous writer goes on to snarkily note: “While the incident occurs before Rick Jones takes a psychedelic drug, it is possibly after in the case of Englehart and Milgrom.”
Just as power levels for characters invariably ramp up over time, weird stuff invariably gets less weird. Having met the Negative Zone in this era, it’s a shock to look back at it’s early appearances (when it was called “sub space”) and see it as a terrifyingly dangerous world you never enter if you can avoid it. Not somewhere Rick could float around in safely if Annihilus wasn’t there.
Having just read the story that establishes the Nega-Band link, Supremor and Marv are quite clear they’re mentally compelling Rick to put on the bands and become Marv’s bodyswapping partner. I don’t know if subsequent issues address that but I’m guessing not.
Those notes aside, this was a good issue, though yeah, taking LSD in the Negative Zone isn’t one of Rick’s brighter moments. I remember flipping through on the stand and being startled the Watcher was up to his neck in this.
I love Carol Danvers but I still wish the original Cap hadn’t been killed off. It was an amazing OGN by Starlin and Marv was pretty much a D Lister so I can’t fully regret it happening either. I just wish Marv could go the way of Bucky instead of Uncle Ben. I also love that Englehart decided to fix the problem the Watcher had as a character since his very first appearance, that he never ever fails to intervene. he also added a bit to the general Watcher power set that made the already pretty lame Original Sin event based on a fallacy as to how Watchers live and die.
Rereading the origin of Galactus in Thor it appears Uatu is the one who witnesses the birth of Big G and does nothing. Which would explain why he bent the rules for Reed in the Galactus Trilogy. Later, though, that was retconned into a different Watcher for some reason, IIRC.
I agree tackling the Watcher’s “I never intervene, but …” was a great idea. Of course his subsequent promise to swear off didn’t last.
As a 12 year old kid reading this mag in late 1974, I was as confused as you were about what was going on with that “Vitamin C”. My parents weren’t all that religious at the time (mom would eventually convert to Catholicism after marrying my stepfather and become much more conservative & religious later in her life). I don’t believe I’d even yet heard of LSD, although within the next few years, as I’d become more enamored with mid-60s psychedelic music, and the Beatles in particular, and reading up on the events of the 1960s, I at least became aware of what LSD was. Fifty years later, however, I’ve still never partaken of that substance — strangely, perhaps, I loved a lot of psychedelic music without ever getting stoned or high! Also, at this point in my comics’ reading, I’d only encountered the Watcher twice, that I can recall – in a reprint of FF Annual #3 (the Reed & Sue wedding issue) and Avengers #118, conclusion of that team’s clash with the Defenders, at the conclusion of which, after Dormammu’s defeat, the Watcher asks the Vision why he froze up during part of the battle when he had sunk into a sort of swampy substance conjured up by Dormy, prompting an admission of ignorance by Vizh.
Of course, rabid Marvellites of that era were obtaining answers to that as well as the origins of the Mantis and that blue city of the Moon in the concurrent tale in the Avengers (hmm, were Englehart & Milgrom also taking some inspiration from the Beatles’ Yellow Submarine animated film, wherein the Fab Four take on the Blue Meanies?). Thinking upon that scene in Avengers 118 at present makes me think that if the Watcher had been truly watching “everything” going on upon Earth (a prospect my rational self regards as impossibly absurd), Uatu’s proper response to Vish’s answer to his query would have been, “heh, heh, that was simply a rhetorical question. I already know the answer but I’m not going to share that with you!” Or maybe that scene was a hint that the Watcher can’t actually watch everything, only whatever he becomes aware of that seems somehow “important” to him, thus he somehow missed Dandy giving that “vitamin D” to Rick Jones, with consequences that would become important during his encounter with Captain Marvel several hours later.
Regarding Annihilus’ going to pieces after one punch from Rick, um, well, that didn’t make any sense at all and 50 years later still doesn’t, unless it was just a vivid dream Rick had. I think that’s the most coherent explanation for that bit of absurdity. Also, appears Marv & Rick somehow only wind up in a sector of the Negative Zone wherein the denizens of that realm rarely go to, aside from Annihilus who must have some sort of gizmo that alerts him when anyone with Positive Zone vibes arrives. Being the resident Green Meanie, Annie takes it upon himself to try to wipe out anything that reeks of “goodness” in his negative reality. At least, that’s my take!
Anyhow, Englehart & Milgrom managed to pack a lot in this issue, including Nimrod, whom no one bothered to ever put back together, at least as far as I know, after Marv so quickly dismantled him. Along with Gamecock over in Captain America, Englehart’s coming up with a few throw-away baddies for the two Captains he’s chronicling in this era. Overall, while this latest Mar-Vell epic can’t help but pale in comparison to Starlin’s run, I found it entertaining enough and wonder what the heck’s going on with Uatu thats he’s behaving so thoroughly out of character.
Another fine excursion into graphic fantasies of the past, Alan!
I wonder if Gil Kane’s cover was inspired by Frank Frazetta’s 1953 cover art for Famous Funnies no. 214 with Buck Rogers.
https://www.frazettagirls.com/cdn/shop/products/009-Art-Print.jpg?v=1637452041
As for Alfredo Alcala’s interior inks, they look fine to me. Very fluid and atmospheric, as always.
Steranko also did a similar cover for SHIELD #6.
The infamous (and classic) Spider-man #121 mentioned LSD by name, though there, it was framed as a bad thing (much to the Comics Code’s relief, no doubt). I recall the doctor told Gwen Stacy and Mary Jane Watson, “what YOU would know as LSD…” as if everyone of college age was on hard drugs back in the early 70s.
By the early 1970s LSD was routinely mentioned in anti-drug ads and classes so they’d know about it. It went from a generally positive image in the 1950s to #2 behind heroin in the Drugs of Doom roster (as Dragnet once put it, marijuana is the match, LSD is the fuse and heroin is the bomb).
Ah, since I did read ASM #121 when it was new, I must have at least read that reference to LSD although It’d be some time before I had real understanding of what LSD was or of its effects, origins and cultural influence.
Maybe I just ran with a different crowd in 1974/75, but I knew exactly what Rick was putting into his mouth when he took that “Vitamin C.” Honestly, there are reasons for this. After reading the Green Lantern/Green Arrow story where Speedy gets hooked on heroin, I did a little research into the drug culture, just so I’d be more aware if it ever came up in a story again. I didn’t take anything; like Fred, at age 67, I’m still a virgin to recreational drug use, but as a wannabe comics writer and artist, I wanted to know more about the drug culture and what it entailed. Plus, we had a youth minister or something at my church who was just hell-bent on teaching us the dangers and deprecations of those eeeeevil drugs and how we’d condemn our souls to hell if we so much as thought about using them, so perhaps I was a bit more up to speed than some others. Which is not to say I wasn’t still hopelessly naïve about the drug culture throughout my entire life, so far.
Still, I was a little disappointed in Rick. I don’t believe for a minute he thought that pill was Vitamin C and for him to take it while he was trapped in a place as dangerous as the Neg-Zone, right after he and Marv had just spoken about how they’re in each others heads and how what happens to one of them is beginning to have more and more effect on the other (Rick was able to use Marv’s body for cryin’ out loud), it was extremely reckless and irresponsible. I don’t remember a storyline that introduced us to Rick’s casual drug use, so taking a strange pill from someone he barely knows in an enviroment he can barely control, doesn’t really seem in character for a guy who used to hang with both Cap and the Hulk. Maybe I’m being judgy.
We don’t often disagree too much about this stuff, Alan, but I liked Alcala’s work in #35. Alfredo understood the assignment and didn’t over-do the inkwork, which allowed the colorist the chance to do their job and I think, for the most part, he drew Marv really well. Certainly, he had a better understanding of anatomy than many of his artistic brethren. Weiss and Milgrom did a nice job in their outings as well and Janson is a really good inker for Milgrom.
As for the story, a lot of this was transitional, getting Marv and Rick out of Starlin’s storylines and into the new ones planned by Englehart and company. It’s a little weird seeing Carol and being reminded of just how much of a supporting player she was in those days; a potential “love interest” whose potential petered out pretty quickly, though I’d say she recovered from it pretty well in the long run.
And finally, all I’ll say about the “millions of tiny Annihiluses” is that I’m glad the storyline got dropped. It was silly.
Thanks for a great rundown, Alan. I look forward to more. Merry Christmas, everyone!
After Starlin left, I just kind of drifted away from Captain Marvel, and not because the stories were terrible, just wasn’t as interested. A couple things I will say, Klaus Janson was an amazing inker (and artist), and that Gil Kane cover was absolutely beautiful.
The Living Laser can be a C-list villain, as much as Captain Marvel (minus Starlin) was a c-list comic book.
Hi, Alan. Another good write-up. And thanks for the link to my blog post.
A few years ago, I emailed Al Milgrom about the “Vitamin C” from Captain Marvel #37, and he replied by saying “We were such scamps back then! I’m sure somebody at Marvel figured out what we were doing!”
Regarding the reveal of Annihilus being “some sorta collective intelligence“ never being followed up on by anyone else at Marvel, there was actually another story that kind of, sort of hinted in that direction. Thor #435 (Aug 1991) ends with Annihilus seemingly destroyed, his armor completely shattered… but then we see a tiny insect conspicuously crawling away from his empty helmet, implying that he is actually far from dead. When I read that issue, that scene immediately reminded me of the one with Rick Jones & the “thousand little Annihiluses” in this story.
I suspect “Vitamin C” got by on a technicality, much like the Hollywood way of dealing with the production code. Suicide was banned on-screen so at the end of Les Miserables, we see Javert walk down to the river, cut away, hear a splash and a screen, then cut back to see he’s gone. Technically they didn’t show a suicide, so no problem (the Hays Office people were aware that being completely inflexible on A-list prestige picture would not be good for their careers). Likewise, while it’s obvious what’s going down to us as adults, technically the issue doesn’t show drug use — and as several comments have shown, lots of kids wouldn’t have picked up on it. So nobody fussed.
By the way, I must note that sometime in 1975, while my family lived in Navy housing on Treasure Island, while perusing in my father’s office, I came across a bunch of pamphlets on the dangers of drugs and alcohol, which I read through. As part of my dad’s duties in the Navy, he had become a drug and alcohol counselor. I never asked him about that but I did know that both my parents overindulged in alcohol Much later, while I was serving in the Navy myself, I found out that often when someone like my dad who had been in the Navy for well over a decade and had risen up to the level of Chief Petty Officer, gets into some relatively minor trouble involving alcohol, they may be required not only to receive appropriate treatment but also to become counselors for less senior service members and I strongly suspect that’s how my dad wound up becoming a counselor.
In my case, while I did smoke marijuana a few times, I never did anything stronger and I rarely drank to excess. My stepdad told me that when he used to have to drive an hour to get home from work at the Navy Exchange, he’d get a six-pack of beer and drink all six cans by the time he got home. That was in Florida in the early ’80s, apparently before drinking & driving was outlawed in the Sunshine State. Me? I can barely drink three cans of beer without getting sick and if I tried drinking an entire six-pack within an hour, I’d probably die of alcohol poisoning and I certainly couldn’t have driven anywhere while doing so! In 1985, my mother spent a month in the hospital to recover from alcoholism and never drank again for the remaining 29 years of her life; my stepfather also quit drinking that same year.
In Florida, though the legal age to buy alcohol was raised from 18 to 19 in 1980, it wasn’t illegal to drink and drive till 1986, and legal age was raised to 21.
I remember someone discussing changes in attitudes towards drunk driving and showing a 1980s New York Times column that argued strenuously against making it a crime to drive drunk — trust people to drink to know their limits!
I remember a clip of a woman complaining about the government taking away our rights and that soon the country would be run by communists.
I remember when my family lived in West Jordan, Utah, in 1973 or so, my very drunk mother driving my brother and I to visit a friend in Salt Lake City over snowy, icy streets. I was 10 at the time and I remember feeling terrified, wondering if we would make it their without getting into some sort of accident. I also heard about my dad getting into an accident while driving drunk during the short period we lived in Primbrook, Massachusetts, in 1970. Fortunately, no one was seriously injured in that accident and my mother, brother and I made it to our destination and back safe and sound. But still, there was the possibility something truly horrible could have come from both instances. And I might never have had the opportunity to read Captain Marvel #37 or Alan’s review of it or write about it or anything else 50 years later! Hmm, Mar-Vell & Rick Jones lifted off in more ways than one!
Thanks Alan for another excellent review. While I have usually found Al Milgrom to be a better inker than penciller, the combination of Milgrom and Janson was really excellent. CM 37 was a nice looking book. The problem was, that again, as with Starlin, this series would constantly have different inkers, sometimes quite good, and sometimes not as compatible with Milgrom. I remember being completely puzzled by the “million tiny Annihiluses,” which as you noted was never explained in CM 38 or 39, and certainly not when Annihilus reappeared against the FF in 1977 and 1983. The one point I am still confused about even now is what you showed from CM 36 and CM 37, where the Watcher looks angry (when did he ever look angry?) and claims that he must murder Captain Marvel! I remember liking CM 38 but finding CM 39 (which I presume you will be discussing at a later date) somewhat disappointing for several reasons but as far as I can recall, it is never really explained why the always benign Watcher suddenly wants to murder Captain Marvel (other than it sounded really dramatic in CM 36 and CM 37). Also even though Jim Starlin drew the framing sequence for CM 36, I wonder if the Watcher was part of his original plans for the Lunatic Legion storyline. Guess we may never know.
Regarding Alfredo Alcala’s drawing CM 35, I have heard that Alcala was incredibly fast, and that is probably why he was asked to draw CM 35, as well as Man-Thing 14 which was without a regular artist after Ploog left that series, but various artists pitched in until Jim Mooney took over in 1975.
With respect to CM 36, this was now a time when the dreaded deadline doom was in full force and was happening all over and would continue for several years. In fact, in the same month (October 1974) FF 154 would have a similar framing sequence and reprint situation. In November 1974, because of a deadline problem, Roy Thomas had to split a Conan story in half for Conan 47-48. There would be a reprint in Conan 47, but fortunately for fans, we would be treated to the first Red Sonja solo story in the second half of Conan 48, exactly 50 years ago, and it was quite a good story, by Thomas, Buscema and Giordano. Unfortunately there would be more unexpected reprints to come in 1975 (such as Avengers 136…sigh).
Returning to CM 37, I did not know what the “Vitamin C” was at the time except that I knew it wasn’t really Vitamin C. I know nothing even now about mind altering drugs, so LSD is as good a guess as anything, I suppose. I suspect that since nobody said what the Vitamin C really was in CM 37, Len probably thought it was OK to let it pass. Still, it was probably a mistake to have shown Rick to have taken the Vitamin C after we saw all those little Annihiluses…. And of course Steve Englehart should not have said he would explain the million tiny Annihiluses and then,,,not explain it. Oh well.
Happy holidays!
“Earth’s moon! In all the time I’ve been on Earth, I’ve never visited it, though it’s one of the most famous landmarks in Kree history.” I’ve always wondered about that. Since it is so important in their history, why didn’t the Kree maintain a presence there? The only explanation I can think of is that once Uatu set up shop there, the Supreme Intelligence decided it was best to stay away and avoid any possible conflict with Uatu, who is very powerful and just one member of his race.
Good point. The Watcher can be extremely brusque dealing with people who disturb him.
That’s a good question, Marcus — and a good answer, too! If I had any no-prizes, I’d send you one.
Thanks!
The Kree did leave a Sentry on Earth, and initiated an experiment that much later resulted in the Inhumans (and maybe they took some ancient humans back to Kree-Lar with them and they were the ancestors of Mar-Vell and other “pink-skinned” Kree). But apparently both the Kree & the Skrulls lost interest in Earth and our moon until they somehow got word that Earthlings were starting to build rockets and explore space. And the Skrulls just happened to arrive first and a quartet of some of their more dimwitted would-be conquistadors sent down to claim Earth on behalf of Skrull-kind. Actually, given that many of the creatures in comics Reed Richards fooled the Skrulls into believing were real have long since been shown to have been real in the Marvel Universe after all — heck, the FF themselves had encountered some of their ilk in their very first adventure as a team a couple of months before they met the Skrulls!
Mark Waid came up with an updated origin for the pink-skinned Kree in the “History of the Marvel Universe” miniseries of a few years back. More details in my next “Avengers” post, coming next month! 😉
Which is a good counterpoint to the “if the skulls have been here for decades, why didn’t they know Reed was bluffing?”
The first Kree story with the Sentry is interesting because even the Sentry doesn’t know if the Kree empire still exists. Obviously Lee and Kirby saw more potential in Yes, they exist.
Archie Goodwin gets credit for introducing the blue-skinned Kree in his one issue of Silver Age Captain Marvel: https://atomicjunkshop.com/the-secret-to-a-failed-reboot-is-reboot-some-more-captain-marvel-17/
Oops wrong link: https://atomicjunkshop.com/captains-in-transition/
CPT Marvel under Englehart and Milgrom was a bit odd.
It was, in a way, the only Marvel book to pick up an ‘Atlas vibe” to an extent using an “Atlas like” color palate and having the same kind of somewhat disjointed storytelling.
The odd thing is that Englehart seemed unhappy and off balance in some of his work around this time, despite his Avengers work culminating and the triumph of his reinvention/restoration of The Red Skull in Cap. His DC JLA, Mister Miracle and Detective Comics works really redeemed him in my eyes in 1976-’77.
Being creative for a living CAN NOT’ be easy.
Another thing that is interesting is that both Englehart and Gerber had the idea of bringing back Hank Pym as Yellowjacket around this time. Mike Friedrich seemed to have spurred their interest with his use of ant-Man and the Wasp in CPT Marvel.
Mike Friedrich never found his niche, but there was something there. As I said, it is not easy to be creative for a living.
Alan and fellow blog readers: Merry Christmas and very much looking forwards to post and comments on 1975 in the year ahead.
Same back atcha, Spirit, and to everyone else out there reading this as well. This wouldn’t be nearly as much fun without the interest and support of all of you, be you a regular commenter or an occasional drop-by. I too am looking forward to 1975 (although we will have *one* more ’74 post to see out the old year… look for it this Saturday! 😉 )
With several of the friends I used to talk comics with now dead or unavailable for other reasons, places like this are a treasure.
Alan,
Another wonderful recap for your penultimate post of the year. I always enjoy finding guest-stars that were never advertised on the covers, so it was really fun to see Hank & Jan Pym in between Marvel Feature # 10 and what I thought had been their next appearance in Giant-Size Defenders # 4. Minor typo: I believe your reference to the Living Laser’s resurrection came in his next explicit appearance in Avengers # 153, rather than in the villain’s brief anonymous appearance in issue # 151.
Thanks, Jay, and of course you’re right about it being Avengers #153 rather than #151 where the Laser’s “death” was explicitly retconned. I’ve made the correction.
Late commenting again!
Pulled me out of the story a bit that Nimrod (the hunter)’s costume was so obviously based on parts of the Goodwin/Simonson Manhunter costume, for no apparent reason other than the hunter motif. It didn’t feel like any kind of tribute or homage, just an easy gag that didn’t really need to be there. A robot that ‘kept vigil on the edge of space’ wouldn’t need a costume or even, particularly, a human appearance.
Best wishes to everyone here for the New Year – it’s my 64th Birthday tomorrow!
Happy Birthday, Mike!
Mike, I sincerely hope that they will still need you and still feed you after tomorrow. (I’m sure I’m the only person who’ll be making that joke this week. 😉 )
Oh, and good call on the Nimrod/Manhunter thing… that slipped by me completely!